Disappointing Masters for Dutch Darts

Wim Blokpoel - Last weekend the 2021 Ladbrokes Masters was played. It was played behind closed doors in Milton Keyes and saw two Dutch players, with the format being expanded to 24 players. First on friday night we had number 9-24 of the world in action. This included Dutch talent Jeffrey de Zwaan who is the world number 22. Jeffrey played 2 time major champion Daryl Gurney. The start of the Black Cobra wasn’t good at all. He got 0-3 down very soon. Gurney himself wasn’t very impressive either though, and as a result of that Jeffrey managed to make it 2-3 at the break. After it, Jeffrey started very impressive and agter it became 3 all, he threw a 13-darter to make it 4-3. Some inconsistent stuff from both of them resulted in a 5-4 advantage for De Zwaan, but unfortunately it was followed by a very disappointing leg and Gurney made it 5-5 and had the throw for the match. And so he did, Jeffrey lost 5€6 after a very inconsistent match and was out of the Masters.

Jeffrey de Zwaan 5-6 Daryl Gurney (85.10 - 89.56)

We still had another Dutch player left though, as Michael van Gerwen, world number two and five time Masters champion, played on saturday in the last 16. After Welsh World Cup hero Jonny Clayton beat Grand slam champion Jose de Sousa 6-5, Michael knew Clayton would be his opponent in the last 16, just like in 2019 where Clayton was the surprising winner of that match. This year Clayton started good again while Michael couldn’t get going so saw himself 1-4 down in the first break. Both players won some legs, van Gerwen was still very inconsistent although he hit an incredible 158-finish and a 150-finish to save his leg. Eventually, Clayton was 9-8 up, but then Michael threw another fabulous finish: 148, as he made it 9-9. We got into a deciding leg again, although this wasn’t succesful once again, Clayton started thr leg with teo 180’s, and won the match 10-9. That means both De Zwaan and van Gerwen went out in a last leg decider, and it was a disappointing weekend for Dutch Darts. Thankfully, we have loads of Dutch players at q-school (you can see an article about q-school on this website as well) and we also have the Super Series and UK Open at the start of this year to look forward to. And of course february will give us another q & a as well, with the one and only FDI.